An adults-only look behind the scenes at the Teletubbies!

But as the show’s title, Confessions of a Teletubby, suggests, this is strictly not for the children.

Nikky will be at One-o-Four, 104 The Hornet, Chichester, PO19 7JR on Saturday, June 14, 17:45-18:55, with what she promises will be a “grown-up” peek behind the scenes as she spills the beans on what it took to become one of the world’s most famous giant yellow puppets. Arguments and poo, sex and swearing, blood, sweat, tears and giant rabbits will feature…

“I saw an advertisement for the show in a newspaper and I auditioned and went for more and more auditions and I got whittled down until I got the job,” she says. “I was Laa-Laa for six years and then there are various other little bits and pieces. And it was a very happy experience. There was lots of fun. At the very beginning we obviously didn't really know much about what it would be but the creators were very good at sharing what they were trying to do and what their overall philosophy was. We were cast at the end of 95 and we started work in 96 and then we started filming in April 96. We had the preparation work and it was an instant success because of the children. The grown-ups were a bit confused because there weren't any grown-ups in it. We were talking direct to the children and I think that baffled the grown-ups because there wasn’t another grown-up explaining what was going on. But the children didn’t need explanations!

“I think there are lots of reasons why it was the success it was. I think it was the innate genius of Anne Wood and Andy Davenport (the show’s creators) and their understanding of the brains of small children and how little minds work and how they find meaning and what is important to them. And then there was the absolute meticulous detail that went into it. We understood the theories and the philosophies behind the show and they never varied. There was the fact that you always heard the sounds of the Teletubbies in advance before you actually saw them. The children always heard that Laa-Laa was coming and then they saw the colour yellow and that gave the children the chance to make a prediction about what was going to happen that then came true, and that was so important. But it was also a show that was totally full of love and was very funny.

“We believed in it and we believed in what we were doing and the fact that the children loved it didn't take us by surprise. What took us by surprise was the press craziness. We didn't see that coming and it was appalling. We were doing a show based on puppets but we got the full tabloid attention, the full long-lens bin-searching ordeal, and that really wasn't very nice. I didn't cope terribly well actually. That must have lasted for about six months.”

Originally the contract for the show was for three years: “I think the BBC wanted it to go on indefinitely but Anne and Andy were not prepared for that. They both wanted to make 365 episodes which was enough for one a day and they felt that that would be enough given the age of the children. So the main filming stopped after six years but it was a great experience.”